Since computers can understand only two words, variously defined as yes
and no, on and off, or zero and one, computer scientists have devised a
babel of "languages" that translate human wishes into some variation of
the computer's two words. BASIC is the language of most desktop
personal computers, originally written for Dartmouth students in the
mid-1960s; FORTRAN is an earlier attempt used mainly for scientific
problems; Logo is designed for children; and Ada is used mainly for
military problems.*

While they were at it, the computer scientists began creating a jargon
of...